Links for Nov 9, 2012

It’s been a while since I did this, but after I saw a good set from John Chandler and learned how he processed them, I thought I’d try to get back in the habit of sharing what I’m reading.

These would make fine weekend reading. Most of them are longer form posts and stories, and many of them either come from Instapaper or Longreads.

If you’re looking for a great way to save away intriguing web articles for later reading (and stripping out the ads from a webpage in the process), I cannot recommend Instapaper highly enough. John has written about it well and fairly often – you might wish to start here.

Without further chatter:

Do facts matter? – CNN.com
A look at the world of political fact-checking and political campaigns who have realized that facts don’t matter to our electorate nearly as much as presentation. I spent a lot of time during the presidential campaign both on FactCheck.org and on FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver’s excellent stats and politics site.

An Election for an Elect Nation « NewChurchCA
A manifesto of frustration with the blinders we have placed on our eyes and our desperate belief that one political party or the other will actually save us. Click through if you want to read more like this (and don’t, if you don’t).

The truth is that it doesn’t matter who is elected in November. Next year, when January turns into February, and the President sits comfortably in the White House, nothing will have changed. America’s economy will still be completely dependent upon enabling humans to kill other humans. We will still occupy other nations despite the majority opinion in those nations. We will still hold an arsenal capable of destroying the entirety of humanity many times over. We will still be the largest supplier of deadly arms across the globe, many of which we will destroy ourselves in future conflict. We will do these things and call ourselves a nation of peace.

I haven’t read a more powerful statement, or a better summary of my own queasiness with recent elections.

The GOP and Me | Rany on the Royals
http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/2012/11/the-gop-and-me.html?src=longreads
A Muslim-American’s history with the Republican Party—and how they lost him, written by one of the best baseball writers around (Shades of Nate Silver? You betcha.)

Turbulent Times: Jens Voigt on Doping in Cycling
My favorite cyclist – both for his aggression and teamwork, as well as his riotous sense of humor, writes about the fallout of the Lance Armstrong doping case, as well as others in pro cycling.